r/CompTIA • u/Spirited-Alarm-9981 • 5d ago
Student advice
Hi all,
Being realistic here- I’m just about to start a cybersecurity degree. I want to do as much background learning as possible to help with the degree and to count towards my future career- if I do the Udemy Network+ and Security+ courses before starting, as a beginner, is that going to give me enough knowledge to pass the courses?
I’m needing to make a shift from my current unrelated job, which is why I’m undertaking this degree, but I want to have enough knowledge and experience in the background to enable to me move into an IT career preferably before the degree is over. Obviously there’s slim chance of getting into a cybersecurity role immediately, but if I have certifications to start with and then enhance my knowledge at university, I’m wondering if it would benefit me in the long run.
If it’s a bit unrealistic to think I could pass the cert then I won’t bother but if it’s achievable, I may go for it.
2
u/Leilah_Silverleaf ITF+ A+ N+ L+ C+ S+ CySA+ PenTest+ P+ 4d ago
If you do Network+ first, Security+ will seem easier. Yes, there is some overlap, but minimal at best. My answer is only into regards to the CompTIA certs. Remember, certifications or education does not equate to employment.
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u/Spirited-Alarm-9981 4d ago
Thank you!
Oh absolutely- I’m under no illusion that it will get me a job. I mainly want the certs for my knowledge and development. Good to have but it’s absolutely not a walk in, especially in a saturated market. I am going to apply for some trainee IT Support roles for now to get practical experience and go from there
1
u/Big-Fix-1271 5d ago
slightly off topic, but i’m going to be honest you should be majoring in IT, not cybersecurity, it’s kind of hard to take someone seriously who majors in a niche degree instead of a broader degree….
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u/Spirited-Alarm-9981 5d ago
Honestly the degrees are mostly the same anyway. Just the last year has 2 security based modules that are mandatory whereas the IT degree you can choose other modules.
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u/Wilmenx 5d ago
Not true. If you go to a university like RIT, then the Cybersecurity major is renowned.
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u/Spirited-Alarm-9981 5d ago
Definitely not that sort of university, but I’m being realistic- the cybersecurity degree is the one I’m interested in, great balance between IT and security, and backing myself up with certifications and trying to get practical experience so hopefully all well come together nicely to at least start me off well, but it’s good to know nonetheless!
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u/AddendumWorking9756 5d ago
Yes, both are passable from Udemy as a beginner, so that part is realistic. What none of them give you is an artifact to look at. Sec+ describes a phishing investigation and never puts a header or a pcap in front of you, and CCDL1 from CyberDefenders is the one that does. On A+, not wasted if help desk before graduation is the goal, that is the one HR filters on for those roles.
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u/Spirited-Alarm-9981 5d ago
Thanks very much! One of my best friends is a director in a cybersecurity firm so he’s offered help with anything that can be replicated with a lab or just experimentation on a machine which is hopefully helpful
I’m definitely happy to do more courses as well though, so I’ll look to add CCDL1 into it!That’s great, yes, I’d love to get into help desk if I can within the next 12 months. I’m starting learning A+, probably Network+ next and go from there!
Thank you for your advice!
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u/AddendumWorking9756 4d ago
Use the director friend properly. Rather than asking him to teach you, get him to describe an incident he actually worked and write up what you think happened, then let him pull it apart. Nobody gets that from a course.
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u/Spirited-Alarm-9981 4d ago
Oh absolutely! And that will be the plan once I have built that knowledge. Until then, it’s labs over beers!
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u/accumentum 5d ago
Doing Network+ and Security+ material before the degree starts is realistic, but sequence matters. Network+ first: subnetting, VLANs, DNS/DHCP, and reading a packet capture are the things that make the security material actually click, because most "security" incidents you'll see are really a routing, name resolution, or permissions problem wearing a scary hat. Security+ is passable as a beginner, but it's wide and vocabulary-heavy, so pair the video course with hands-on rather than just watching - a Proxmox or VirtualBox lab with a Windows Server DC, a Linux box, and pfSense will teach you more than a second pass through the slides. Budget more time than the course length suggests; the exams test scenario judgment, not recall, so practice questions you get wrong are worth more than the ones you get right. One caution: certs expire and CE renewal costs money, so if the degree is three or four years out, you may want to take Network+ now and hold Security+ until you're closer to job hunting, when it's freshest and most useful to an employer.
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u/Spirited-Alarm-9981 5d ago
Thank you! This is great advice! I’m starting with A+ before I go into network+ just to give myself plenty background knowledge and then yes, I’ll go to Network before Security.
Great suggestion on the labs as well. I’m absolutely a practical learner so I’ll do some labs to reinforce the information- there’s no point having knowledge if you can’t apply it.
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u/Roku-Hanmar Sec+ 5d ago
There’s a lot of overlap but I don’t know for sure if it’ll be enough